"RIGHT ACTIONS in the future are the best apologies for bad actions in the past," said theologian Tryon Edwards. OPERATING ON that thought -- avoiding the mistakes that caused an apology -- can we really expect London's Daily Mail to: A. Mend its loosey-goosey gossipy ways? B. Extend another apology to George Clooney, in the matter of that story about his future mother-in-law objecting to her daughter, Amal Alamuddin marrying Clooney on "religious"...

In "Master Class," Terrence McNally's dazzling new play, Zoe Caldwell offers not so much an impersonation of Maria Callas as a re-creation of her aura: glamorous, imperious, fiery, remote, egomaniacal, bigger-than-life. In short, a diva among divas. Callas was by general consent the great soprano of the postwar era and one of the finest singing actresses of all time. She almost singlehandedly spearheaded the modern revival of the Italian bel canto repertory. She redefined operatic...

Niki Caro is set to direct " Callas ," about the relationship between legendary opera singer Maria Callas and billionaire Aristotle Onassis. Caro is also writing the script. Caro is currently in post-production on "McFarland," set to be released by Disney in the fall. "I have a great fascination for Maria Callas, who was such a powerful woman and artist, but also troubled and stuck in this very destructive relationship," said Caro. The film is set up as a...

Three-time Tony Award winner Zoe Caldwell has played Lady Macbeth, Medea, Miss Jean Brodie, Lillian Hellman, Cleopatra and even Emma Hamilton, mistress to British war hero Lord Nelson. Now, the Australian-born actress, a veteran of 32 years on the American stage, is undertaking what she considers her greatest challenge: Maria Callas. In a new play by Terrence McNally--called "Master Class" after the special classes Callas held at New York's Juilliard School of Music in 1971-72--Caldwell is bringing back...

"Master Class," the Terrence McNally play celebrating the complexity of one of the more intimidating divas of the 20th century, is now nearly two decades old. Maria Callas, the central figure in the play, has been dead for 36 years. It's been more than four decades since the famous Callas master classes at the Julliard School, upon which this play loosely is based, and, gulp, it's been 48 years since Callas ended her stage career with Franco Zeffirelli's "Tosca" at the Royal...

`Master Class," at the Shubert Theatre with Faye Dunaway as its star, is playwright Terrence McNally's portrait of the artist as Maria Callas. For McNally, and for all the many acolytes of the late, great diva, she was La Divina, the personification of the romantic notion of the artist as someone possessed and consumed by the genius and inspiration of her art. To convey this, McNally hit upon the device of presenting his idea of one of...

On Dec. 2, 1804, Napoleon was crowned emperor of France. In 1823 President James Monroe outlined his doctrine opposing European expansion in the Western Hemisphere. In 1859 militant abolitionist John Brown was hanged for his raid on Harper's Ferry the previous October. Also in 1859 painter Georges Seurat -- founder of the pointillism school of Neo-Impressionism best known for his work "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" -- was born in Paris. In 1923 legendary soprano Maria...

There is a miniature by the 18th Century Italian painter Giandomenico Cignaroli, there are a couple of sketched portraits by the movie director Pier Paolo Pasolini and there are furs and haute couture dresses as well as shoes and gloves galore. Yet when these and other even more personal items come up for auction here in December, the point of interest will not be their intrinsic value but their provenance. All belonged to Maria Callas, arguably the 20th Century's most famous operatic diva.

Barbara Redlinski, 61, died Wednesday, February 21, 2007 at her home. Born in the small Polish village of Wolka Klucka, she came to the US in 1972, and settled in Chicago, moving to the Urbana area in 2002 in order to be close to her daughter and family. Vivacious, fearless, and generous, she had an unrivalled passion for cha-cha music and gourmet coffee. Although they will probably never know it, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Pat Sajak, Maria Callas, Peter Sellers, and Frederic Chopin...

It has been 30 years since she blew audiences away as Bonnie Parker in "Bonnie and Clyde," a role that launched a career as well as a fashion trend. Now, Faye Dunaway hopes to do it again: this time, by portraying Maria Callas, the great opera diva, in "Master Class," Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning play, currently at the Shubert Theatre. The role is bringing Dunaway back to the stage for the first time in a decade because she is awed by...

Destination: Field Museum, "Treasures of the Titans" exhibit The payoff: Gawk at celebrity bling An occasional feature on last-minute mini-vacations -no passport required. I really like jewelry. OK, OK-I know you're thinking, "What woman doesn't?" And while I might resent the generalization, I've got to admit that in my case it's true. So when I heard about the Field Museum's new "Treasures of the Titans" exhibit, a collection of gems and jewels formerly owned by stars, politicos...

Madonna, Whitney, even Diana Ross--these divas have nothing on Maria Callas. A series of the opera singer's waspish letters, going on sale at Christie's London auction house Nov. 30, show Callas "in full diva mode," Thomas Venning, Christie's manuscript expert, told Reuters on Tuesday. In one letter dated November 2, 1958, to Rudolf Bing, manager of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, she asks: "do you make your judgements with the brain of some little fool or rather with your...

Renata Tebaldi, the Italian operatic soprano who, along with Maria Callas, was considered one of the greatest divas of the post-World War II era, and whose beautiful voice and consummate artistry made her a beloved prima donna at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala Opera of Milan and Lyric Opera of Chicago, died Sunday at 82. Ms. Tebaldi died at her home in San Marino after a long illness, her doctor said. Ms. Tebaldi's rich, flexible, easily produced sound, wide range and warm stage presence endeared...

The extraordinary and controversial career of Maria Callas has been matched by remarkable documentation of both her studio and live performances. The problem is, what to collect-unless, like John Ardoin, you collect everything. Ardoin, music critic of the Dallas Morning News, has spent a lifetime studying Callas` performances. He has, as he writes in the new edition of his book "The Callas Legacy," "dealt with every scrap of recorded sound by Callas that I have been able...

On July 5, 1798, the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte captured Alexandria, Egypt. In 1810 Phineas Taylor Barnum, the circus showman known as "P.T.," was born in Bethel, Conn. In 1811 Venezuela became the first South American country to declare independence from Spain. In 1865 William Booth founded the Salvation Army in London. In 1894 fire destroyed several buildings left from the 1893 Columbian Exposition on Chicago's South Side lakefront. (Among the few...

European copyright protection is expiring on a collector's trove of 1950s jazz, opera and early rock 'n' roll albums, forcing major American record companies to consider deals with bootleg labels and demand new customs barriers. Already reeling from a stagnant economy and the illegal but widespread downloading of copyrighted music from the Internet, the recording companies will now face a perfectly legal influx of European recordings of popular works....